Aces of Ustio
by Han Shoots First
Summary: Artühr James was the son of a tennant farmer. He never wanted to do much. When he was 15 his father became the owner of their land. Suddenly Artühr was expected to be a honorable noble. But war soon follows. As it gradually becomes worse, he is on the front lines, fighting, flying, winning. But what challenges face him ahead? Prequel to my other story, Aces of Osea.


I never expected to do much in life, son of a tenant farmer with no possibility of ever becoming more than a tenant farmer like my father. But something unexpected happened. When I was 15 my father was granted a fief, a grant of land. I was still hopeless, I had two older brothers, both of which would be ahead of me to get our family's land. Yet people still expected me, the son of a tenant farmer become lord, to do something honorable. And now I was here, about to take another test that I'd fail, then I'd return home a failure, and what little pride my family had left in me would be lost. I never wanted to do anything other than live a simple life. I was forced into the Air Force, I wasn't a pilot. I never even knew how a plane worked until I started training. I made it through, barely scraping by up to this point. I got in the plane and took it into the sky. Once we were away from the base, my instructor began to call out maneuvers. I didn't do well, I missed 5 out of the 20. Well over the one-miss limit. After we landed and taxied to a stop I climbed out of the plane. I began to walk back in, my head bowed in shame. Then I heard a voice from behind me talking in Belkan, "Artühr, I need to talk," it was my instructor.

I turned and faced him, "Yes, sir," I replied, also speaking Belkan.

"You didn't do well."

"I know, sir."

"Alright, I know this means a lot to you, and I know you'll be shunned the rest of your life if you don't go home with your wings. And you know that I never liked the idea of being forced into service. That is why I'm going to pass you and let you have your wings."

"Sir?"

"I don't want you to be treated as some failure, everyone's got something they're good at, maybe it just isn't flying."

"Thank you, sir. I can't thank you enough."

Three years passed after that, I met a girl, and we ended up getting married. It was the happiest time of my life, but I couldn't help but feel like I shouldn't be in the Air Force, it didn't matter though, we weren't at war so my job was uneventful.

Then, I went to the base and we were called in for a briefing. We were going to be part of a offensive to invade Ustio. We went up and encountered enemy fighters, I never fired a shot until I heard someone over the radio yell, "Fire! Fire you idiot!"

I didn't know if it was aimed at me or not, but I pulled the trigger and my planes guns began to spit fire. We got back to base and began to look at gun footage, then they got to mine, and there it was, right in the middle of the frame was the image of an enemy F-15. Everyone looked at me, I bowed my head in shame, _I'll never be a good pilot._ I requested some leave for two days, "Fine, but don't think this gets you off the hook."

I headed home, the next day I woke up and decided to grab some things from the store for my wife. As I was on my way back I saw planes overhead, then one of them fell to the ground. I was struck with horror as I saw where the plane crashed, I floored the accelerator and saw the small house burning. It couldn't even be called a house anymore, it was just a pile of rubble. I saw my wife laying on the ground next to it. I got out of the car and ran to her, I knealt by her side and grabbed her, she didn't move, I checked for a pulse, nothing. I lost her, I lost the one good thing in my life. She was gone, I heard the screaming sound of jet engines and saw the Belkan emblem on the plane as it circled back to return to base. I screamed at the sky, I didn't expect it to do anything. I felt tears streak down my cheeks as I held the lifeless body.

I kept driving, past the borders, and past the empty fields. I didn't know where I was going or what I was doing, the world was obsolete, it had no meaning anymore. I eventually came to what used to be Ustio, I kept going, as I drove I came to the mountains, I'd driven for two days straight. I drove up the mountain pass until I saw a sign that said "Valais Air Base, Ustio"

I followed the road until I came upon an airfield, I got out, this is what I needed to do, I needed to kill the man responsible. My sense of honor and duty disappeared, all I had left was the need to kill whoever was responsible. I walked up to the door and was met with a gun to the face. I stuck my hands up immediately and said in Belkan, "Hold on. Don't shoot, I'm here to defect."

A voice came from behind them and said in Osean, "He's here to help us." then he changed to Belkan, "Are you a pilot?"


End file.
